hardcover
Hardcover

NPRs Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books of All Time

In 2011, NPR set out to make a list of what their listeners believed to be the best science fiction and fantasy books ever written. More than 5,000 people nominated books, then over 60,000 people voted on the best ones. This list is highlights the most popular books voted by NPR readers across these two genres.

#1

The Lord of the Rings

1954 • 1,335 Readers • 1,178 pages 4.5

#2

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

1979 • 3,072 Readers • 215 pages 4.2

#3

Ender's Game

1985 • 2,198 Readers • 256 pages 4.3

#4

Dune

1965 • 3,980 Readers • 704 pages 4.3

#5

A Game of Thrones

1996 • 2,761 Readers • 819 pages 4.4

#6

1984

1949 • 4,819 Readers • 352 pages 4.2

#7

Fahrenheit 451

1953 • 3,068 Readers • 227 pages 3.9

#9

Brave New World

1930 • 2,532 Readers • 332 pages 3.9

#10

American Gods

2001 • 2,232 Readers • 558 pages 4

#11

The Princess Bride

1973 • 1,131 Readers • 465 pages 4.2

#12

The Eye of the World

1990 • 1,677 Readers • 708 pages 4

#13

Animal Farm

1945 • 3,386 Readers • 122 pages 4.1

#14

Neuromancer

1984 • 1,530 Readers • 271 pages 3.9

#15

Watchmen

1987 • 1,125 Readers • 415 pages 4.4

#16

I, Robot

1950 • 994 Readers • 264 pages 4

#17

Stranger in a Strange Land

1961 • 740 Readers • 422 pages 3.7

#18

The Name of the Wind

1 • 2,284 Readers • 669 pages 4.4

#19

Slaughterhouse 5

1968 • 2,006 Readers • 292 pages 4.1

#20

Frankenstein

181 • 2,180 Readers • 353 pages 3.9

#21

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

1968 • 1,454 Readers • 223 pages 4

#22

The Handmaid's Tale

1985 • 2,349 Readers • 324 pages 4.1

#23

The Gunslinger

1976 • 1,374 Readers • 238 pages 3.6

#24

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968 • 885 Readers • 251 pages 4

#25

The Stand

1978 • 1,314 Readers • 1,553 pages 4.1

#26

Snow Crash

1992 • 1,268 Readers • 448 pages 3.9

#27

The Martian Chronicles

20 • 725 Readers • 182 pages 4

#28

Cat's Cradle

1963 • 985 Readers • 192 pages 4.1

#29

#30

A Clockwork Orange

1962 • 1,213 Readers • 149 pages 3.9

#31

Starship Troopers

1959 • 569 Readers • 353 pages 3.7

#32

Watership Down

1972 • 714 Readers • 478 pages 4.1

#33

Dragonflight

1968 • 324 Readers • 347 pages 3.8

#35

A Canticle for Leibowitz

1959 • 507 Readers • 334 pages 3.9

#36

The Time Machine

1894 • 980 Readers • 140 pages 3.7

#37

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

1866 • 516 Readers • 394 pages 3.5

#38

Flowers for Algernon

19 • 1,413 Readers • 117 pages 4.3

#39

The War of the Worlds

1897 • 625 Readers • 199 pages 3.8

#40

Nine Princes in Amber

1970 • 259 Readers • 175 pages 3.6

#41

Pawn of Prophecy

1982 • 379 Readers • 262 pages 3.9

#43

Mistborn: The Final Empire

2006 • 2,909 Readers • 541 pages 4.4

#44

Ringworld

1970 • 475 Readers • 288 pages 3.7

#45

The Left Hand of Darkness

1969 • 1,110 Readers • 267 pages 4.1

#46

The Silmarillion

1977 • 790 Readers • 481 pages 4

#47

The Once and Future King

1958 • 433 Readers • 650 pages 3.8

#48

Neverwhere

1996 • 1,279 Readers • 480 pages 4.1

#49

Childhood's End

1953 • 596 Readers • 212 pages 4

#50

Contact

1985 • 520 Readers • 453 pages 4.1

#51

Hyperion

1989 • 1,489 Readers • 481 pages 4.3

#52

Stardust

1997 • 1,055 Readers • 248 pages 4

#53

Cryptonomicon

1999 • 578 Readers • 1,152 pages 4.3

#54

World War Z

2006 • 1,010 Readers • 355 pages 3.9

#55

The Last Unicorn

1968 • 375 Readers 3.9

#56

The Forever War

1974 • 671 Readers • 218 pages 4

#57

Small Gods

1992 • 455 Readers • 388 pages 4.3

#58

Lord Foul's Bane

1977 • 235 Readers • 369 pages 3.2

#59

Shards of Honour

1986 • 235 Readers • 272 pages 3.9

#60

Going Postal

2004 • 415 Readers • 422 pages 4.4

#61

The Mote in God's Eye

1974 • 287 Readers 3.8

#62

Wizard's First Rule

18 • 443 Readers • 848 pages 3.7

#63

The Road

2006 • 1,625 Readers • 287 pages 4

#64

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

2004 • 1,073 Readers • 1,028 pages 4

#65

I Am Legend

1954 • 643 Readers • 312 pages 3.9

#66

Magician: Apprentice

1982 • 510 Readers • 485 pages 4

#67

The Sword of Shannara

1976 • 293 Readers • 670 pages 3.2

#68

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

2003 • 67 Readers • 464 pages 3.9

#69

Assassin's Apprentice

1995 • 872 Readers • 400 pages 4.1

#70

The Time Traveler's Wife

2003 • 949 Readers • 522 pages 3.9

#71

The Way of Kings

2010 • 2,429 Readers • 1,007 pages 4.6

#72

Voyage Au Centre de La Terre

2001 • 271 Readers • 64 pages 3.7

#73

Homeland

1990 • 280 Readers • 343 pages 3.9

#74

Old Man's War

2005 • 933 Readers • 320 pages 4.2

#76

Rendezvous with Rama

1973 • 613 Readers • 112 pages 3.9

#77

Kushiel's Dart

2001 • 285 Readers • 930 pages 3.9

#78

The Dispossessed

1974 • 769 Readers • 400 pages 4.2

#79

Something Wicked This Way Comes

1962 • 483 Readers • 293 pages 3.8

#80

#81

Gardens of the Moon

1999 • 1,005 Readers • 559 pages 4

#82

The Eyre Affair

2001 • 370 Readers • 387 pages 3.9

#83

Consider Phlebas

1987 • 616 Readers • 544 pages 3.5

#84

The Crystal Cave

1970 • 136 Readers • 514 pages 3.9

#85

Anathem

2008 • 507 Readers • 1,092 pages 4.2

#86

Furies of Calderon

2005 • 388 Readers • 516 pages 3.8

#87

The Shadow of the Torturer

1980 • 432 Readers • 276 pages 3.6

#88

Heir to the Empire

1991 • 366 Readers • 404 pages 4.1

#89

Outlander

1991 • 796 Readers • 627 pages 3.9

#90

Elric of Melniboné

1972 • 285 Readers • 24h 12m 3.4

#91

The Illustrated Man

1951 • 291 Readers • 186 pages 4

#92

Sunshine

2003 • 128 Readers • 476 pages 3.6

#93

A Fire Upon the Deep

2010 • 477 Readers • 624 pages 4

#94

The Caves of Steel

1952 • 357 Readers • 200 pages 3.9

#95

Red Mars

1992 • 466 Readers • 671 pages 3.8

#96

Lucifer's Hammer

1977 • 135 Readers • 642 pages 3.6

#97

Doomsday Book

1992 • 376 Readers • 587 pages 3.8

#98

Perdido Street Station

2000 • 539 Readers 4

#99

A Spell for Chameleon

1977 • 130 Readers • 344 pages 3.2

#100

Out of the Silent Planet

1938 • 229 Readers • 155 pages 3.8